I hope everyone had a lovely holiday this year and that you are as excited as I am for the New Year to come! I was very lucky this year, I didn’t over indulge. There was no drama, traveling issues or so on BUT the heat and hot water did not work in my house. So I curled up with my mother and watched a movie, had the fireplace going and just relaxed. It was wonderful.

Now I am getting all geared up to cleanse once the New Year begins. A friend and I are planning on hosting a group cleanse and all of you are invited! If you are new to juice cleanses or have any questions please feel free to send me an e-mail, livinggirllivingfoods@gmail.com. I will answer all questions to the best of my knowledge in a timely fashion.

I’ve already started to plan out juices I want to make. One of my gifts this year was a juicing book titled, “The Big Book of Juices: More Than 400 Natural Blends for Health and Vitality Every Day” by Natalie Savona. This juicing book is ideal for anyone interested in juicing from a “meat and potato” person, occasional juicer or even someone who juices every day. The book begins with basic information on juicing, why juice, the difference between juice and smoothies, how to pick the best fruits and veggies (when they are in season, how to prepare them) and what nutrients you absorb from consuming these items.

There is a nutrients chart too! I shouted this out while looking at the book I’ll have to admit. This section contains a list of vitamins, the benefits they provide and food sources. Another section is all about what foods to eat for certain ailments and why it helps. The author even provides a weeks worth of juice recipes a week of detoxing juices, immune-boosting, and a juice high weekend. Each recipe is easy to follow, nutrients are listed at the bottom and the author rates (from 1 to 5 stars) how effective the drinks are towards; energy, detoxing, immunity, digestion and skin. This is another part of the book that I arguably was too excited about. This may be the most wonderful juice book I own so far. It’s nice to see if the days during my juice cleanse I can keep my energy up and have drinks with high detox ratings.

Just a heads up, not all of the recipes have photos and the book is thick but small so it is difficult to stand it up. Thankfully most of the recipes are sweet and short but at least for me personally, the first time I try out anything new I am constantly looking at the recipe making sure I do not forget anything or the measurements are correct. Most of the juices have fruit in them, so if you are worried that you are consuming too much fruit this book may make you panic. But a lot of them would taste amazing without fruit or if you even want to cut down some of it. If you want to know what I personally think about fruit is that it has a very cleansing effect and I do not see any harm in having two juices or so that have a fair amount of juice in them. Note, I am not Doctor Quinn Medicine Woman or anything 😉

Some juices I am positive I will end up making during my juice cleanse are a Spirulina Elixir without the stevia, Sarma’s Giant Thick Green Drink without stevia, vanilla or green tea, many other recipes from Sarma and from Ani Phyo’s books. Plus some of my own recipes like my favorite Green Lemonade, Just Beet it, and Beetberry. I’ve already seen several recipes in the Big Juice book that are rated well for detoxing such as; Celery Blood Cleanser (celery, apple, beet, spirulina), Chlorophyll Crunch (celery, carrot, parsley), Carrot Deep Cleanser (carrots, apple beet, celery, kale), Tricolore Cruncher (celery, tomatoes, parsley, watercress, lemon), and Green n’ Pear It (broccolli spears, celery and pear).

I’m extra excited to use my new ceramic knives, bamboo cutting boards, and I just bought myself a Blendtec blender because I am fed up with having blender drama.

Pili nuts, I’ve wanted to buy these for the longest time and I have mentioned on my site before. Pili nuts contain the highest amount of Magnesium and Vitamin E out of all nuts. Pili Nuts are high in; Calcium, Phosphorus, Potassium, B Vitamins, Omega Fatty Acids, Protein, and contain all 8 essential Amino Acids. They are ideal for making chocolate, ice cream, and are good in smoothies. Nuts are tough on ones digestion and should not be consumed while doing a juice cleanse. Once I am done cleansing I am hoping to only use this type of nut in my diet.

Original Chia Goodness,Chia is extremely high in calcium and essential omegas. After my cleanse I hope to make smoothies that taste like a fruity and hearty cereals with this. I also want to work on some sort of breakfast bar using this as the main ingredient.